Deer Creek was the only small venue on a stadium tour. The only impossible ticket. 1st time show for the town. Security was searching cars for the ticketless trying to sneak into the lot. The the other shows had their moments and had fewer warts. Set 2 had an INTENSE energy to it.

The new songs were undeveloped and evolving. Brent does some brief but cool experimenting during FH intro. Victim ending shows signs of what it'll become. Intense Truckin'. From there the show is dazzling for that tour. Set 2 was my favorite, and I thought they couldn't top it. Then came Alpine, and that venue was like a really big Deer Creek, more chill scene, polished and oustanding playing. Creek set 2 is the beginning of that groove, they'd found the X factor. One of my most listend to tapes from 89. Sometimes the warts remind me that it's all in the moment. Listening to tapes at home, maybe less appreciated. I'd rather watch this show on big screen than any previous shows from the tour.

Too bad about SBD oversaturation. Fun Drums/Space. Blistering Watchtower, strong performance on China Doll. etc etc.

I missed the Close Encounters Jam. In the shadows of an unlit area by the fence, some harmless but confused naked dude was being roughed up by a security guard who was furious that the feeble confused dude would come to his town. Space was spent finding more security to come stop the thug.

Kept coming back to this amazing venue for amazing GD shows. They used to stack speakers on the floor of the side stage wings instead of hanging all of them from above. It was so LOUD, people abandoned their up and close floor seats next to them. I stayed. Ears still ringing from Garcia's high register. Worth every memory.

This entire tour is hot. It has material officially released from each of the dates except the middle day at Alpine Valley; but the peaks are 7/9 & 7/17. That said, this is the bottom show of the 11. This is the first of 14 shows at Deer Creek. With all the goofy corporate names [at this moment the Ruoff Home Mortgage Center] it is generically called Noblesville Amphitheater, though old schoolers still call it Deer Creek. It's a ways from Indy - almost halfway to Muncie - but by some metrics it's the most successful amphitheater in North America. It holds 25k people, with some "seats" notoriously poor, because it's so wide/flat. This show is known for Truckin' and the Close Encounters Space. Of course the next date may be the year's best, so this is an overlooked show - that and because the second set is a series of flubs and trainwrecks.

First Set. The sparks don't come as quickly as the rest of the tour, but Candyman becomes powerful. The next few are solid, and in Queen Jane you get two fine solos. On We Can Run Brent cuts in to end Jer's solo - maybe he wanted to bail? So Jer adds to the end instead. This is a big Bird, with a long jam, parts of which generate flight. Not quite 7/9 but good (a tape MTX might be better here, if one comes along, though Jer was a little buried front-of-house too, with Brent loud).

Second Set. Ouch. Foolish Heart is a hint of what is going to happen in Oct. At the end Jer finally remembers the final verse, so he decides to backtrack and replay it. Then he goes independent study on Victim or the Crime, so Brent goes off. Crazy Fingers also trainwrecks! Then, in a classic Dead turnaround comes a fantastic Truckin'. Jer suddenly clicks and they whip out the year's best. The released version has the last 30secs of Crazy Fingers and is mixed down from multi (guess there's more in the vault?), so you get more instrument separation, but it's not as punchy as the SBD. The excitement continues into Smokestack Lightning. Bobby's segue-in is a beautiful thang, and between 4:30>8 min you hear Jer do things that are in most guitarist's quiver, but that Jer rarely used, except for a [blues] case like this. Then he wrangles with the drummers, steering before capitulation. The SBD on Drums has levels distortion so you might use the AUD. This Space is known for having a Close Encounters. Jer uses MIDI to quote the theme a few times between 8:10>9:10. If you are of a certain age that might seem cool? If you are younger you have no idea WTF I'm on about. And just like that the magic is gone and China Doll trainwrecks. For Watchtower, Bobby starts the rhythm and Jer starts in a different place, so the drummers, from experience, try to follow Jer instead. But then he changes the first beat again, so Bobby stops and waits for the song to restart - causing Jer to stop soloing and play the rhythm so Bobby knows where the hell he can sing the verse. Surprisingly, halfway it comes together nicely. Stella ain't half bad and the rest is average, with some nice Phil & Brent in Brokedown.

1st Set:  C+
2nd Set: C
Overall = 2½ stars

Highlights:
Truckin' - Jer suddenly clicks, they whip out year's best
Smokestack Lightning - really good version, several things going on

SOURCES: The 139107_UltraMatrixSBD._miller is the upgraded, corrected, patched soundboard. The 139106_sbd_miller is a copy. The miller_97307 is the previous version. The 118804_aud-mtx AUD is not a tape matrix and runs way too fast, as does holtz_jaz_100391. The cousinit_97691 AUD runs fast. The 141072_TSBeyer is just slightly fast. The nak_cohen-lee_106500 has the better freqs but no image. The 39292_aud_lamarre_berger is the best AUD and might make a fine tape MTX (it's missing a few mins of Drums). Truckin' is on the Music Never Stopped Soundtrack.

I was at this show on the lawn and it was indeed a great time but it did not sound as good as this from my spot! Excellent work, Matthew Vernon thank you